a car guy's electric moment - lithium ion battery pack

If GM does it right, the upcoming Chevrolet Volt could make the whole idea of "miles per gallon" obsolete. The long-
Jon Lauckner says the mpg metrics used are useful and he oversees the development of Volt as vice president of global product planning.
But, he says, it can also "lock you in a paradigm that tends to lead to a series of similar problem solutions.
"In other words, things like Volt happen only when people completely rethink how cars are made.
Volt is about to break through.
To some extent, this is also compensation for the missing vessel of GM in the hybrid vehicle.
In early 1990, GM unveiled a concept car that is very similar to the Prius.
But it thought the economy was meaningless and killed the project.
Lauckner said with frustration, "the phrase," What we could have done, "certainly applies . ".
"In retrospect, we underestimated the fact that having a car like a hybrid means being able to win a leadership position in fuel economy for the entire passenger car industry.
"GM is determined not to make the same mistake again.
In August, GM opened a 160,000-square-
Foot Factory in Brownstown, Michigan for the production of lithium
Ion battery pack.
This is the first such factory operated by a large car manufacturer, and GM's idea is to finally control the development of future batteries and the whole production, which it believes is a way to win a competitive advantage in the oil industry.
A restricted world
Full voltage operation-
Investment and growth of $1 billion
It's the kind of gambling that Lauckner likes.
"Risk is my friend," Lauckner told Atlantic last year . ". "I like risk.
You can either be big or go home.
Lauckner is determined to be big. As a third-
GMer generation, he is firmly committed to restoring the great sense of America's largest car company.
Here is his description of why and how GM decided to make the Volt.
At the end of 2006, Bob Lutz, we started talking about
Former President of Chrysler, who came to GM in 2001 for product development
Want to launch a game
Replace the concept car for 2007 Detroit auto show.
He asked me to develop the concept of advancement, which will be at the heart of this display car.
If you're going to make a concept car that meets what people call the game,
Change, "you need to do something to test the technical limits.
But you can't go out with ridiculous things either.
So Bob and I asked each other about various concepts.
He appreciated the work of Tesla Motors.
A car company in Silicon Valley
I have developed a battery.
Electric sports car
A small, light twoseat car.
Bob thinks we should look at Pure batteries-electric car.
We kicked it around, but for the kind of car we thought --
The average family will use it.
The battery must be huge to have enough range.
I said, okay, how about taking a different approach?
My idea is that there are enough batteries on board for most people to commute every day;
At a long distance, there will be a small internal combustion engine to generate more power.
The beauty of this concept is that people can plug in the power where they work or play, and the car can still work when there is no electricity.
In retrospect, these conversations are the defining moments of the whole project.
At that time, we did not see it as a billion. Dollar Decision;
This is to move in a bold new direction, indicating that GM can once again become a technology leader.
There's a lesson in it-
Sometimes decisions that ultimately have the greatest consequences often begin with relatively mild things.
Once we have decided on the broad concept behind the voltage, we are dealing with things very methodically.
When we first started talking about what Volt was, we changed the rules and we were thinking about the existing paradigm --
Miles per gallon
This is a traditional measure of vehicle efficiency.
Another critical moment is when we put the idea on its head and start thinking about how much fuel we can't use --
That is how to avoid the problem of using liquid fuel completely.
By not focusing on miles per gallon, we opened our minds to think differently about what cars do.
Even the best batteries in the world are not close to the energy density of gasoline or diesel;
The difference is that it's actually about two orders of magnitude (100 times).
State of voltage-of-the-art lithium-
The ion battery pack can travel about 40 miles. It is T-
The shape of 6 feet long edges and 3 feet short edges;
It weighs about 400 pounds.
Now think about how much gas it takes to move a car like Volt 40 miles.
No more than a gallon.
I can easily hold so much with one hand.
That's why gasoline or diesel has been the preferred fuel for more than 100 years.
We started with a panel of dozens of people-
Time has improved rough calculations to ensure that we are able to deliver vehicles that meet typical customer expectations.
Due to the lack of time to manufacture an actual working prototype, we have done a great deal of computer simulation of the performance of the vehicle: acceleration, maximum speed, energy consumption and range.
In the spring of 2006, the team quickly elaborated on the idea in further detail.
We meet every week to discuss various technical issues and define vehicles as specifically as possible.
Meanwhile, Ed Welburn, vice president of global design, lets our design studio start the "sketch blitz" to develop interior and exterior styling for concept cars.
Our role is to demonstrate that technology is feasible and then take the first step to push the project to production.
There are two ways to do this.
One is to build a completeMature vehicles;
It's very expensive and time-
Consume because you have to create every part.
The second method we choose is to create a vehicle that does not exist physically, but only as a series of simulations.
For example, we were able to verify our assumptions about battery power and size without actually having the exact propulsion system components on hand and in the car.
In fact, the vehicle itself can actually represent.
In the simulation, the battery pack is just a "black box" with defined inputs and outputs ".
Later, when you do all the detailed works, it is necessary to develop and test the exact design and performance of the battery.
For things like the new mid, we don't necessarily do that. sized car.
In this case, we can adopt the current model, add ballast to generate new weight, change the aerodynamics by fiddling with sheet metal and modify the existing powertrain.
But for a car like Volt, no existing one can work, so virtual simulation is the only way.
We can do a lot of quick iterations and get a basic understanding of, for example, how big a battery or motor needs for a car with a given mass and aerodynamic mass.
Of course, if the concept car is later put into production, it is necessary to make a prototype car and physically test the car and its components.
But for the concept car, it is very necessary to ensure that the concept is reliable.
We did another thing with Volt.
General Motors usually develop new technologies, such as new propulsion systems, and then apply them to one or more vehicle programs.
But because we wanted Volt to go on the market quickly, we decided to develop the propulsion system while the vehicle works.
Then we will marry the two.
We looked at the customer's habits today and could walk hundreds of miles as soon as we filled them out. up.
About 80% of Americans and Europeans travel 40 miles or less a day.
Based on our experience with EV1 ,[
Electric vehicle experiment discontinued in 2002
We know that one of the biggest mistakes in pure electric cars is that people worry about running out of juice.
We call it "range anxiety ".
"But if you can make a battery car that most people can drive on a normal daily commute, you can guarantee that people will never get stuck there, can the concept of electric vehicles work and be affordable?
We think the answer is yes.
In the early summer of 2006, we built the concept Kabee, and we had a clay model;
By the fall, we have perfected the concept, fully defined the vehicle, and started the production of the concept car we launched in 2007.
Throughout the development of the car, it was very helpful to have an influential person in the company involved and respected by Bob Lutz in the industry.
There is naturally a certain degree of internal doubt about the development of such vehicles, especially regarding lithium-
Ion battery pack because it has never been done highvolume vehicle.
Bob Lutz has influence and ability to make sure we don't stand still.
When he said he wanted a game
When changing concept cars at the Detroit auto show, people responded, "Okay, tell me what you need.
"At the end of 2006, we went to the product board and we went to the GM product board for a final review.
We have made several progress reports, but this is the first time we have reviewed the concept in detail.
We can prove that this concept is reasonable. this idea is consistent with the times.
What's more, we think it broke the mileage. per-
The gallon model has attracted a lot of interest.
Yes, we acknowledge that there is a risk because the technology is not validated and the market response is difficult to measure because it requires customers to interact with their vehicles in a different way (
Insert every night).
But we convince them that this is what we need to try.
Building on that, they told us to continue to make a concept car for the Detroit auto show, where it received a huge amount of enthusiasm.
We went to the board and then the question became, should we take it to production?
This is a much larger investment in money and time.
Because we have considered so many big problems, it is not difficult to succeed. ahead.
But it needs approval from GM's board of directors.
The meeting took place the night before the board meeting at the Design Dome of the general technology center in early February 2007.
In the dome, we present the Volt concept car as well as the chassis cutting model.
We also reviewed eight other hybrid and alternative propulsion vehicles.
I showed 10 charts on Volt, describing the concept and the technical challenges of bringing it to market.
As Volt was well received at the Detroit motor show, the board encouraged us to take the next step to create a car that was actually produced.
A few months later, after we developed the production car, we went back to the board and got approval to invest in the machinery and equipment for manufacturing the battery lab Volt, and the battery pack assembly facility.
This is not a typical process of developing cars.
Typically, model combinations are developed several years in advance and plans are adjusted as needed.
Volt is completely different: it starts with a concept and becomes a complete-
Mature production projects in record time.
It is worth noting that the voltage will be the first high
Bulk production vehicles that do not use oil as the main "fuel?
Whether the theme is the environment, sustainability, foreign policy, or even energy security, the idea looks more and more attractive.
In addition, voltage is part of the bigger prospects for car electrified.
Basic Technology will apply to other types of electric vehicles.
So it's not just Volt on the road for us;
This is the first step towards the strategic development of many electric vehicles.
Based on the propulsion architecture.
Never looked back.
Even at the end of 2008, when the economy suffered a collapse and GM's financial situation was not good, there was never serious discussion about putting Volt on ice throughout 2009.
This is one of GM's top priorities in the past and present.
We haven't identified the retail price of the Volt yet, but it could be over $30,000, which makes it more expensive than a typical mid-range productmarket car.
However, over time, higher initial prices will be offset by lower operating costs, as electricity costs per mile are relatively low compared to gasoline.
Federal, state and local governments have also created incentives to stimulate demand for electricity.
Power car.
Frankly, the cost of the new propulsion technology is much higher than that of a regular car, as it is still in its infancy.
But the cost of key components, including battery packs, power electronics and motors, as we build economies of scale and develop more innovative ways to deliver the same functionality at a lower cost, we will fall.
Gasoline engine 100-The beginning of the year.
It will take some time to overcome.
But you have to start somewhere.
Volt itself will not change the company's financial position in the short term, and it will be a small part of GM's financial position in the coming period of time.
But let's see where it goes.
Each big tree begins with a small seed.
Whether you support Volt or not, you must admit that it has changed the conversation. -